The invention relates to a training device for firefighters and law enforcement personnel. More particularly, the invention relates to a training device that simulates the response of a locked door to a blunt force and thereby allows such personnel to be trained to effectively breach a locked door in various manners employing the application of blunt force.
Dealing with emergency situations of all kinds often requires that emergency personnel can quickly gain access through a locked door. Clearly, door locks are designed to withstand unauthorized access. Many techniques have been developed, however, that can quickly defeat even the most well designed locks. It is important that emergency personnel are well trained in all such techniques, so that they can be carried out quickly and efficiently in the field when necessary.
One problem with training personnel to break down doors is reconciling the fact that training requires significant repetition to become part of the trainee's muscle memory, and that doing so effectively would ordinarily produce a lot of broken doors! My prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,493 described a device that has helped train countless emergency personnel to pry a lock using a “haligan tool” and axe or maul, to spread a door from the door jamb, with a non-destructive, reusable training device. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.
Beyond acting directly at the door edge to prying a lock open by spreading the space between the door and jamb, several other techniques are available to defeat a lock. Sometimes, such as when a plate is mounted in front of the lock, such prying techniques are ineffective. Accordingly, Knowing several different techniques for breaching a door allows a quick substitution when one technique does not work in the field. Many such techniques employ blunt force—the use of a battering ram, and a shotgun blast to name a few. Thus, there is a need for a training device that responds just like a conventional locked door to the application of a blunt force.